It's no secret we helped create and popularize West Coast style IPAs (since 1997), Double IPAs (since 2000) & Triple IPAs (since 2006). In fact, IPAs of every ilk imaginable are our bread and (hop) butter at Stone Brewing Co., but we'll be the first to admit that a night of subsisting solely on big IPAs can be a short one. Enter Stone Go To IPA, our session IPA, boasting all the gloriously bitter, citrusy, piney flavor of our bigger / industrial-strength IPAs, but with a significantly lower alcohol-by-volume (4.5%) allowing IPA fans like us to enjoy more of this amazingly, hoppy beer over a longer session, without giving up any of that gloriously crave-able botanically-driven dankness. Well, OK, when you compare to our bigger IPAs you find that you give up some, as that's what happens when you dramatically lower the abv. And while we work hard to bend the time/space/abv intensity continuum, we've admittedly not yet learned to break it. This comes damn close though.

More User Reviews:

Appearance: It looked yellow to me, and had no head at all by the time I walked from the bar to the beer garden.

Smell: Super strong hops! Lots of citrus, but also some more astringent herbaceous notes and some floral.

Taste: Not nearly as bitter as I was expecting from the hop-bomb scent, but not at all sweet, either. A very thin, dry flavor that disappears quickly, making it extremely drinkable and summery, although slightly drying.

Mouthfeel: I found that this beer had a very thin body that bordered on slightly watery. Not overly carbonated, although the dryness of the flavour emphasized the carbonation. All of this means it's very refreshing and extremelt sessionable, but by no means a full-bodied beer.

Overall: I am a fan of session IPAs; it's nice to get through three beers with friends and not be much affected by alcohol. I love the citrus notes, and would definitely buy this in hot weather. However, my go-to session IPA is still Founder's All Day. It's higher in alcohol, but overall a more solid beer.

Bottle: Poured a bright yellowish color ale with a medium size white head with good retention and light lacing. Aroma of grapefruit and citrus notes is really enticing with nice floral undertones. Taste is also dominated by nice citrus and grapefruit notes with some floral undertones and limited bitterness. There is some small dose of residual sugar notes that are noticeable with some non-descript malt notes. Body is light with good carbonation. Nice to see that you can get this nice hops profile without having too much alcohol.

Pours into a nonic a dull lighter golden with a half finger white head that fades quickly leaving a half ring of broken lace behind.Lighter aromas with grapefruit rind standing out most with a bit of toasted cereal grain as well.A big shot of grapefruit and lemon oil hits ya on the palate and lingers for quite awhile along with sweet biscuit in the finish,quite a nice shot of hops.Maybe the best "session" IPA I have had yet.